Restaurante Playa Bella: half a century of culinary excellence and outstanding service

Since opening in 1972, Restaurante Playa Bella has upheld the tradition of serving the finest Spanish cuisine. It stands out for the quality of its ingredients, the care taken in preparation and presentation and the personalised service offered to every guest. Its carefully crafted menu is the result of 50 years of success, featuring some of the essentials of Spanish cooking.

The story of Playa Bella is also the story of its founder, Pepe Puerta. Every day, he still walks through the restaurant checking every detail while maintaining the warmth and personal touch that have become a hallmark of the place. He’s passed that spirit on to his son Javier, who now runs the restaurant with the insight and experience gained from growing up inside it. Now, with the definitive incorporation of Javier's son into the restaurant, there are now three generations of the same family at the helm of Playa Bella.

Over its half-century of history, Playa Bella has welcomed several generations of the same families. Many first came as children with their parents and grandparents and now return as adults with their own children. The walls of the restaurant display photographs that capture this intergenerational bond, showcasing the emotional connection that has tied so many families to the establishment over the years.

Its classic décor always leaves room for personal touches that reflect Playa Bella’s family character and closeness with its customers. Hot dishes, for example, are served on wooden boards decorated with drawings made by customers’ children, while every table is adorned with fresh flowers.

With this bond in mind, Playa Bella began September with a charming new addition: a shop inside the restaurant where customers can pick up souvenirs such as sweatshirts, mugs, tote bags and caps. It’s an original way to take home a piece of its essence, a reminder of its culinary delights and the long after-meal conversations that have earned customers’ loyalty since their very first visit.

This warm and personal approach, which has allowed Playa Bella to build lasting bonds of trust with its customers over the years, completes a dining experience rooted in respect for the recipes, gestures and rhythms of traditional Spanish cooking. “What you see on the menu has been made the same way for more than 50 years because it works,” the team say.

Top-quality produce, slow cooking, and genuine know-how are the keys that explain the excellence of the dishes arriving at the table for guests to enjoy.

The menu features carefully prepared starters, such as crepes with gratin spinach, avocado with prawns, melon in port with grated coconut or scrambled eggs with fresh asparagus and ham. They also make their own pâté from an entirely personal recipe.

Hearty spoon dishes are another speciality, including lobster cream, gratin onion soup and their refined seafood cream.

Particularly popular with diners are the grilled beef sirloin, entrecôte with green peppercorns, balanced duck à l’orange, tender lamb cutlets and the superb grilled beef chop (550g).

True to its seafaring spirit, the restaurant also serves a wide variety of fish and seafood, from grilled monkfish with prawns and garlic to John Dory with prawn pil pil, fresh sea bass, gratin sole fillet with prawns and seafood, gratin seafood crepe or salmon stuffed with spinach au gratin.

Among the house specialities, standouts include aubergines stuffed with beef sirloin and vegetables gratin with natural tomato sauce, gratin seafood shells, scrambled eggs with Burgos black pudding and pine nuts, beef sirloin meatballs in homemade tomato sauce with chips or beef sirloin with fresh foie and Pedro Ximénez sauce.

Always seeking to surprise loyal customers with new offerings while keeping their hallmark of quality, this season, Restaurante Playa Bella has also unveiled its wine cellar with an excellent selection from a wide range of denominations of origin.

More information:

Address: N-340, Km. 162, 29680 Estepona, Málaga.

Phone: 952 80 16 45.

Web: https://restauranteplayabella.com/en/home/

Instagram: @restauranteplayabella